


A Time For Us

by breathingdestiel



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Brainwashing, Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, First Kiss, Fluff and Angst, Getting Together, Love Confessions, M/M, Season/Series 13, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-25
Updated: 2018-02-25
Packaged: 2019-03-23 23:29:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13798602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/breathingdestiel/pseuds/breathingdestiel
Summary: Dean finds himself in a strange world without his memories or a way to get out. He meets a strangly familiar young man and starts falling in love with him.Slightly based on a novel A Crystal Age, though I haven't read it.





	A Time For Us

**Author's Note:**

> Unbeta'd.

It's dark when Dean opens his eyes. Looking around, after his eyes have adjusted to the darkness, he sees that he’s in a forest. He’s lying on the ground, engulfed by the huge roots of a tall tree. Where the fuck is he? And where the fuck is Sam?

He can remember neither how he got there, nor what he and Sam were hunting. Probably witches. It’s always fucking witches. He hates it when someone messes with his memories.

Grabbing his phone, he realizes there was no signal. He can’t call Sam and he can’t even check the GPS to find out where he is. After assessing the situation, he sighs and hauls himself up, using the tree as a support. He will have to walk out of the woods, so he can contact Sam and kill whoever did this to him.

His phone battery is almost dead, so instead of using it as a flashlight, he decides to rely solely on his sight. Fortunately, no one is around because he stumbles and falls more times than he is willing to admit.

After a good hour of walking, he finally sees the edge of the woods and a narrow, gravel road. The signal is still no show, so hoping the road will lead him to some form of civilization, he follows it.

He walks and walks, but doesn’t run into a single person. Great. The witch sent him into the middle of freaking nowhere.

There is only one option left and he has tried to postpone it for as long as he could--praying to Cas. The last time they saw each other, they had a _mild_ disagreement, so he feels awkward as he closes his eyes and thinks about the angel.

“Cas, you listening? I could really use your help, buddy. I’m sorry about-about…” He frowns as he tries to remember what they were fighting about, but he can’t recall it. “I’m sorry about the fight. I don’t know where I am, and my phone doesn’t work. Anyway, if you could try to find me, that’d be great.”

Just as he finishes, he hears a clamor from a distance. Running towards the source, he is soon met with a shocking sight: a group of people, dressed like they from the 18th century, walking in front of him. He hurries to catch up with them because even if they’re a bunch of weirdoes they can still help him find a working phone.

“Hey, wait up,” he yells and they all as one turn to look at him. Their eyes widen as they take him in—like he is the weird one. “Can I use your phone for a quick minute? I’m lost and I need to call my brother.”

An old gray-haired woman steps out, glaring at him. “Who are you? What is this phone you’re talking about?”  She gets into his face, and fights the urge to push her away.

“Mother, please,” an equally old man says. “Take the others back to the House and I’ll take care of the stranger.”

What the hell?

“Very well,” the ‘mother’ nods and motions the others to follow her.

The old man watches them leave and when they are far enough, he finally addresses Dean, “Excuse her. We don’t get many strangers around here. And who you may be?”

“Name’s Dean. I’ll be out of your hair soon, just point me to the nearest town.”

“Town? What is ‘town’?”

Dean blinks confusedly. Maybe these people don’t understand English… But they speak it perfectly.

“Town, you know, place with houses and buildings where bunch of people lives.”

“We only have one house,” the man says.

“Look, mister, I’m not in the mood for games, okay. I need to find my brother.”

The man’s eyes start glowing and he clasps Dean’s shoulder, gluing their eyes together. “You don’t need to find your brother. You will stay here. We are your family now.”

 The man lets go as if burned and they both look around. “I-I don’t know what I was talking about.”

“I’m not sure myself. I think… you were telling me you need a job,” the man says.

Dean nods. Yeah, that sounds about right. He will need a job if he plans to stay around. “Do you have any?”

“We don’t take in people usually, but I find you intriguing. If you wish, you may work as a servant at the House.”

“That sounds awesome,” Dean grins.

“Awesome? I’m not familiar with that word.” The man tilts his head and it reminds Dean of-of… Of someone he knew, but he can’t remember.

“What will be my pay?” He asks to distract himself from the hole in his memory.

“Your pay? Do you mean what you will receive in exchange for your services?”

“Yeah, that’s what pay usually means.”

“Well, obviously, we’ll give you new clothes. I have no idea where you have found such horrid clothes,” the man gestures at Dean’s plaid and jeans, “but will give you something normal to wear.”

Briefly, Dean thinks he should be offended, but then realizes that his clothes are terrible. “But what about money?” He asks, but he has an inkling he won’t have any need for money anymore.

“I don’t know what money is,” the man says, confirming Dean’s theory. “But we have food.”

“I’m sold,” Dean agrees and follows man to the House.

* * *

The House turns out to be a freaking mansion, with no other building in sight around it. Its walls are plain and yellow, but it gives a homely impression. Dean instinctively knows he will love living there.

The man shows him his new room and tells him the dinner will be at the sunset. Then he leaves. Nobody pays any attention to him as he wanders around and he doesn’t try to talk to anyone. He needs to get acquainted with the new environment because he doesn’t want the repetition of what happened when he asked the old man if he was the Father since the old woman seems to be the Mother. The man laughed in his face, called him silly and kept walking. Obviously no one here is willing to explain to him anything about this world, so he will use his hunter instincts to get by.   

His hunter instincts? He suddenly remembers Sam and Cas and the hunt. As he is about to run the fuck away from this weird ass place, a young woman jogs towards him, her eyes glowing, and grabs his shoulder.

He is immediately relaxed and can’t even remember why he was panicking or why the young woman is touching him. She seems equally confused, and she lets go of him with a muttered apology and returns to her errands. Shrugging it off, Dean continues his exploration.

When he notices the sun going down, he hurries to the dining room. There is a huge group of people already sitting there, about thirty of them, and more are coming. Dean sits down beside the old man—whose name he still doesn’t know, he realizes—and beside a much younger man, in his twenties, probably, who is the most beautiful creature Dean has ever seen. Sharp jaw, blue eyes and brown, sexily ruffled hair make it impossible for Dean to look away. The man notices his stare and he sends Dean a small smile.

“Hello, my name is Castiel,” he introduces himself.

Dean grins back, “Pleasure to meet you. I’m Dean.”

Lost in those blue, so damn familiar, he misses what Castiel has said.

“I’m sorry, can you repeat that?”

“I’ve asked you if you like your accommodations.”

“Yeah, it’s great,” Dean says and Castiel nods politely before turning back to the table.

His shoulders slump as he realizes he has missed his chance to get to know Castiel more, but hopefully there would be more opportunities.

The cooks bring out the food and everyone dives in. When he discovers that only vegetables are on the menu, he discreetly asks the old man if there will be some meat to eat later.

The man gives him a disgusted look. “Why would we eat meat? Animals are sacred and they are not to be touched.” He shakes his head. “You must come from a really strange place.”

Dean frowns, but tastes the food anyway. To his own surprise, he finds it incredibly delicious and he doesn’t get why he has ever wanted to eat meat.

Looking around the table, he realizes he must be the oldest person there beside the old man—the Mother being strangely absent. Unnerved by the realization, he wriggles in his seat and whispers to the old man, “Is it weird that everyone is so young expect you and me?”

“What are you talking about? You look as old as most of the others.”

Rolling his eyes at what he presumes is old person’s envy of youth, he glances at his reflection on the spoon and with a start he realizes the old man was right. Dean looks like he is in his mid twenties. For a moment, he is confused, but there’s a voice in his head that tells him it’s perfectly normal and that he should accept it. So he does.

* * *

Over the next few days, he accepts a lot of things and he settles into his new life. Considering he is a decent cook, his job becomes making breakfast and helping with other meals. Magdalene, the main cook, tells him he might even advance to dinner staff one day if he continues the good work. He is immensely proud of that praise.  

After a couple of days, he plucks up his courage to approach Castiel. He finds him in the garden where he has learned that Castiel’s duties are for most of the days.

“Hey, Cas,” he greets, the nickname falling off his tongue easily, like it is a word he has already spoken a thousand of times.

“Hello, Dean,” Castiel responds in a deep voice and Dean’s mind freezes. There is something he is supposed to remember, he knows, but no matter who deep he digs, he can’t find what he is looking for. “Dean, are you alright?”

“Cas… Cas… Cas…” Dean keeps murmuring, the image of a tan coat playing in front of his eyes, but he can’t place it.

Suddenly, like he was struck by a thunder, the thoughts of his angel flood Dean’s mind and he looks at this cheap copy with disgust. Before he can do anything though, fake Cas grips his right shoulder and Dean falls on the ground.

“Oh, no, let me help you,” Cas says as he pulled Dean up.

“I must have stumbled on something,” Dean says, staring into Cas’s eyes. “I’m so clumsy. Good thing you were around, huh?”

With a gentle smile, Cas looks down, “I’m always here to help.”

“Are you busy?” Dean asks. “Maybe you’d like to join me for a walk?”

“I’ve just happened to finish all my chores. Would you like to see the garden?”

They walk close to each other, their shoulders brushing with every step they take. Dean’s skin tingles with every touch as he listens to Cas rattling about all the different flowers in the garden. Sometime before dinner they say their goodbyes and go their separate ways, but not before agreeing to do this again someday. Dean hopes it will be tomorrow.

Although it’s only been a short time since he’s met Cas, Dean finds himself enamored with the other man.  He can’t stop thinking about him and everything they could do together. Already, he has planned their whole future together. Now, he only must say something to Cas and they can start building their lives together.

Not once, he worries that Cas feels the same. He knows that Cas is as relaxed around him as he is around Cas and he’s seen the shine in Cas’s eyes when he looks at Dean. For that reason, what happens when he confesses his love hurts him even more.

They are sitting on a bench in the garden, admiring the nature. A comfortable silence around them is at times interrupted only by birds chirping. At some point, Dean finds himself staring more at Cas than the view around them, and he thinks this could be a perfect moment for love confessions. He takes Cas’s hand in his own, making Cas look at him in surprise.

“I have to tell you something, Cas.”

“You can tell me anything, you know that.”

He does know. Cas is the one person he feels he can be completely open with—like they’ve together through hell and back and nothing about each other can surprise them anymore.

“Cas, I love you,” he breathes out.

Smiling, Cas tightens the grip on Dean’s hand. “I love you, too, Dean. I know we’ve only met recently, but I already love you as strongly as I love our other brothers and sisters.”

Dean blinks slowly as he takes in Cas’s words. His eyes grow heavy with unshed tears, but he doesn’t want Cas to see him so affected. 

“Oh,” he says finally. “But, I thought, maybe, you’re in love with me.”

“In love? What does that mean?” Cas asks, tilting his head.

“It means… it means you want to hold someone’s hand and kiss them and…” he trails off, unsure how to describe it. He thinks briefly that maybe these people have a different word for it, but judging by the furrow between Cas’s brows, he really doesn’t know what Dean is talking about.

“I often kiss some of my brothers and sisters,” Cas says and leans it to peck Dean’s cheek. “Like this, right?”

Squirming uncomfortably in his seat, Dean shakes his head. “Uh, not really. I meant kissing with our mouths pressed together.”

“That sounds quite unhygienic,” Cas says. “I’ve never seen someone do that.”

How do these people show love, if there is no kissing, Dean wonders. “Have you heard about sex?”

Cas shakes his head, his eyes wide. “No, what is it?”

“It’s… Never mind.” Dean gives up on explaining. “The way you love me is the same as you love everyone else?” Dean asks, just to make sure, still hoping…

“Yes, Dean,” Cas smiles and Dean’s heart breaks. “You are my brother.”

Dean stares into the distance, all his dream crushed, as he wonders how he’ll ever recover.

“Is everything alright?” Cas asks after a long silent moment.

“Yeah, of course,” Dean says and forces a smile. “I’m just really glad you accepted me into your family.”

As soon as he can, he makes an excuse and retreats to his room. He was so sure, Cas would return his feelings, but Cas only sees him as a _brother._ So hurt and embarrassed to face Cas, Dean skips dinner, choosing to stay in his room and cry his broken heart out.  The old man visits him and Dean lets him inside, not wanting to appear rude to someone who offered him a roof over his head.

“What troubles you, young man? Are you sick?”

“Sick,” Dean scoffs. “Yeah, I’m having problems with my heart.”

“That is odd,” the old man says, not picking up on Dean’s sarcasm. “Heart problems don’t appear until 150.”

“150 what?”

“150 years, of course,” the man tells him, like he has asked the stupidest question.

“People can get to 150 years?” Dean asks, completely shocked.

“No, of course not, we can get to 300,” the man explains, shaking his head. “How old do you think I am?”

Dean shrugs, “70? 80?”

The man laughs, “I’m almost 200, boy. You really don’t know much about his world, huh?”

“How old is the Mother?” Dean asks, as the new information begins to sink in.

“Which one?”

There is more than one? He doesn’t dare to ask it out loud, though, since the man already finds him weird.

“The one I’ve met?”

“She’s 300, and the other one is somewhat younger. They will have to step out soon,” the man says wistfully, “I wonder who they will choose as their successors.”

Itching to know more, Dean blurts out, “Does anyone here falls in love?”

For a long moment, the man contemplates him before sighing, “Romantic love is utterly unnecessary.”

“And what about sex? Is that deemed unnecessary too? How do people procreate, then?” Dean asks, but it occurs to him that babies aren’t that necessary if people live so long.

“The Mothers are there to procreate when needed.”

“How can two women make babies?”

“There are potions to make it happen,” the man explains. “It doesn’t happen that often, the Houses usually have a father and mother. Sometimes, they are in love, but as I said, it is not necessary.”

“It’s really weird,” Dean admits.

“You, my boy, are weird. This is perfectly normal.” With that, he leaves Dean to process what he has found out.

It doesn’t take too long. In a couple of days, the whole system seems perfectly natural to Dean that he wonders why he even questioned it. Well, as long as Cas is not around. The moment he finds himself in Cas’s presence, he begins to doubt everything because his heart yearns for Cas. For Cas’s closeness, his touch, his kisses. He realizes that something must be wrong with him and it makes him angry at himself. Why does _he_ have to have this defect and everybody else is normal? Why does he have to suffer while everybody else is happy?

* * *

He takes up walking alone through the forest on the edge of the property. Most of the time, he spends wallowing in his woe. Sometimes, he falls back into an old habit and imagines being with Cas, but he shakes those thoughts off as soon as he catches them.

On one such occasion, he is ambushed by a tall man.

“Dean, thank God I found you,” the tall man says, grabbing him for the shoulders. “We were so worried.”

Dean pushes the man away. “Who the hell are you and how do you know my name?”

“Dean, it’s me, Sam,” the man says, his eyes softening. “I’m here to help you.”

“Look, pal,” Dean relaxes once he’s decided the other man isn’t a threat, “Unless you can make me fall out of love, I’m not interested.”

“Fall… out of… love?” The man—Sam—repeats. “Why do you want to fall out of love?”

Dean takes a pity on him—he obviously doesn’t know much about the world either and Dean’s been in his shoes not so long ago. So he explains everything. Tells him how no one falls in love, but that Dean is broken and done so anyway. How he wishes he could stop feeling that way.

“I’d do anything to make it stop,” Dean admits.

For a long moment, Sam stares at him, before speaking up tentatively, “I might have a solution for your problem.”

“Really?” Dean asks, excited.

“I have this potion,” Sam takes out a small bottle from his back pocket, only now making Dean realize that he is dressed similarly to Dean on his first day here. 

“This potion will help me?” Dean squints at it. “What do you want in exchange?”

“Nothing,” Sam says. “I… feel very sorry for you and I want to help you.”

“Thank you,” Dean smiles. “I appreciate it.” A pained expression crosses Sam’s face, but it’s so quick that Dean chooses to ignore it.

Just as he gulps down the clear liquid, he hears Cas call out his name from the distance. Ignoring Sam, he hurries towards Cas.

“I’m here,” he shouts and it doesn’t take long for them to find each other.

“Dean, I have exciting new,” Cas says and takes a hold of both Dean’s hands.

Dean hears Sam let out a surprised, “Oh,” but he can’t be bothered by the audience because Cas is _holding his hands_.

Unaware of Dean’s inner excitement, Cas continues, “The Mothers have just informed me that they want us to become the next Fathers of the House. They explained to me everything about love and sex and I’ve realized that I am in love with you. Now, we can be together. This is what you wanted, right?”

Dean blinks in a surprise. This _is_ what he wanted, but he worries it is too late. He turns around to ask Sam for an antidote or something that will stop the effects of the potion. As he is turning around, though, he gets dizzy and collapses on the ground.

“Dean!” Cas shouts.

“What’s happening?” Dean asks as his eyes settle on Sam, who is standing close to them. “What did you give me?”

Everything around him is flickering and turning back. He can’t keep his eyes open as he sinks deeper and deeper into darkness.

“Poison, Dean. I gave you poison,” is the last thing he hears.

* * *

The first thing he feels as he regains consciousness is someone shaking him lightly.

“Dean, Dean…” he hears, but he can’t connect the voice to the face. Slowly, the memories of living in that fucked up world come back, but everything else is still blank. 

“What-” he croaks, his throat dry, as he opens his eyes. “What happened?”

Taking in his surroundings, he sees that he is lying on the bunker’s floor and Cas and Sam are crouching beside him. They help him sit up and he feels a sharp pain at the back of his head.

“Someone hit me from behind,” he remembers.

“It was a monster,” Cas tells him. “Similar to this world’s djinn, I believe. He poisoned you. Whatever you saw, it was only a dream.”

God, Dean thinks, good thing it was Sam who showed up there and not Cas. If Cas had seen… He shakes that idea off—better not think about it.

He finally feels brave enough to look into Cas’s eyes. Many things were twisted and wrong in his dream, but that shade of blue was just right.

“Did you guys gank him?” He asks timidly—not sure if Cas is still pissed at him.

“Yeah, but we couldn’t wake you up, so we dragged you back before the portal closed and I used dream root to get you out,” Sam explained. “We never should have split up.”

“Yeah, well,” Dean shrugs. He is well aware that this was his own fault.

They had found a way to open up a portal for the apocalypse world, but before they went in, Dean tried to stop Cas from going. Naturally, that resulted in a screaming match between two of them until Sam took Cas’s side—rationalizing that three of them were stronger than two. Once they passed through the portal though, Dean, furious with both of them, decided that going separate ways would be the best. It seemed like a good idea until he was struck in the head.

“What about Mom and Jack?” He asks, not wanting to dwell on his mistake.

Sam slumps his shoulders. “Nothing.”

“I think we were in the wrong world. Very similar, but I noticed a few differences,” Cas says and puts a comforting hand on Sam’s shoulder. “We’ll try again until we find them. _Together_ this time.” He throws a knowing look at Dean.

With an amused huff, Dean rolls his eyes. “Aye, aye, captain.”

“Dean,” Sam says as they help Dean get up from the floor. “About what happened in your dream.”

“We don’t have to talk about that.” Dean glances at Cas, hoping he won’t be too curious about what Dean had dreamed.

Sam must have seen him look at Cas because he scoffs, “Not about that. About the fact that I killed you.”

“You did what you had to,” Dean says softly, knowing his brother’s head is not in the right place. “You saved me, Sammy.”

“You thought I was helping you. You looked so grateful,” Sam says sadly before he shakes it off. “Anyway, I’m gonna go buy you some pain meds.” He walks towards Dean and throws his arms around him. “I’m glad you’re okay, Dean,” he says, before whispering, “You should tell him.”

Dean swallows hard and pats his brother’s back. “Thanks, Sammy.”

He and Cas stand in silence until they hear the bunker’s door shutting closed. Walking to the library, Dean plunks into one of the chairs and realizes just how tired he is.

“I can heal you, Dean,” Cas says as he walks towards him.

“You don’t have to, Cas. Sam’s gonna get me some pills and I’ll be as good as new.”

Standing behind him, Cas ignores him and puts a warm hand on his shoulder. The familiar surge of grace shoots through him and his pain disappears.  

“I have a feeling that Sam left for another reason,” Cas says and sits beside him. “What should you tell me?”

Silently cursing Cas’s super-hearing ability, Dean shifts in his chair awkwardly.  For a moment, he doesn’t know how to proceed, but then he thinks _what the fuck_ and turns to face Cas.

“I’m sorry about yelling at you and trying to stop you from going with us,” he begins. “The last time we went to that world, you died and I don’t want that to happen ever again.”

Cas looks taken aback. “I’m not going anywhere, Dean,” he says.

“You’re always going somewhere!” Dean shouts, a bit desperately. “You _died_ and I couldn’t… All my hope died with you, Cas. I can’t go through that again. So, yeah, I’ll get overprotective sometimes, but that’s only because I care.” He locks their eyes together and takes a deep breath. “That’s only because I love you.”

“Dean…” Cas whispers, a tinge wonder in his voice.

“In my dream, everything was weird, but you were there—fake you. And even though I didn’t remember you I fell in love with you—him anyway. Because I’m in love with the _real_ you.”

Now smiling, Cas’s hand finds his own and squeezes. “Dean, I love you too. You know that.”

“I had a feeling you do,” Dean smiles back. “But I was always too scared to do anything about it.”

“Why now then? Is it because of your dream? We were together in it?”

Dean laughs, “Hell no. Well, we might have been if Sam hadn’t come. You told me I was your brother and it really hurt. Now, I know how you felt when _I_ told _you_ that.”

 Cas huffs a laugh, “It did hurt, but only because I could sense you were lying.”

“Well, I _was_ lying, because I definitely don’t want to bang my brother,” Dean says jokingly, before he turns serious, “But to answer your question… I don’t want to waste anymore time, Cas. I wanna be with you, ‘cause we can’t know how much time we have.”

Cas smiles shyly as his fingers trace patterns on Dean’s hand. “I’d like that.”

“Does that mean you’ll stay with us? With _me_?” Dean asks.

“Yes, Dean. I’ll stay,” Cas says as he moves his head closer to Dean.

After slowly licking his lips, Dean smirks. “Does that mean I can kiss you?”

“You’d better,” Cas breaths out just as Dean leans in and seals their lips together.

**Author's Note:**

> What did you think? If you have read the novel, did you like the elements of it that I used? 
> 
> Find me on [tumblr.](http://breathingdestiel.tumblr.com/)


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